It's from where? Food imports growing
GLOBAL-VORES | Food imports grow, so you may be a bit surprised to learn origin of some products
For grocery shoppers who love the convenience of tuna in a foil pouch, buy their kids fruit in a plastic cup or can't get enough boxed coconut shrimp from the freezer aisle, nearby Chicago stores have it all -- even though the goods might actually come from much farther away.
The SeaPak frozen coconut shrimp with marmalade sauce sold at Dominick's stores start their journey to your mouth in China, despite the box's label featuring the company's St. Simon's Island headquarters off the coast of Georgia "since 1948."
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Many of the Chicken of the Sea and BumbleBee brand foil packets of tuna at major stores in town are from Thailand. The Dole four-pack plastic cups of fruit at Treasure Island might be from China, Thailand or the Philippines.
Like other retailers, food companies are increasingly reaching around the world to Asia for products that often can be produced at lower cost or are more available for seasonal or other reasons. The value of fruits and vegetables imported from China into the United States have more than doubled since 2003 and fish and shellfish imports have nearly doubled, according to the foreign trade division of the U.S. Census Bureau. About 13 percent of the average American family's food now comes from outside the United States, estimates the Grocery Manufacturers Association.
"That is reflective more than anything of the global marketplace and how that's changed so much," said Scott Openshaw, a spokesman for the association.
And the practice might keep growing if the U.S. economy continues to weaken, leading retailers and shoppers alike to turn to cheaper alternatives, said Meredith Adler, a Lehman Brothers analyst who tracks food retailers. The only drag on the trend might be rising transportation costs from higher fuel prices, she said.
"Sourcing from overseas is going to grow, but if fuel prices go up there will be trade-offs," Adler said.
The trend could be worrisome for consumers, given recent scares over tainted toothpaste, lead-paint toys and adulterated drugs from China. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which regulates all food imports, except meat (that's handled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture), inspects less than 1 percent of the food coming into the United States, said Michael Herndon, a spokesman for the agency. The agency mainly tracks where the food is coming from and where's it's headed, he said.
"When there's a problem with the producers or importers, they get more scrutiny and are more likely to be inspected," Herndon said. "Our inspections are risk-based."
Whole Foods Market, Treasure Island, Dominick's and Jewel-Osco are all selling items from Asia that you might not have expected to show up on grocery store shelves in Chicago. In addition to lots of frozen shellfish from Thailand, there are pine nuts and frozen vegetables coming from China, dried fruit from the Philippines, and salted cashews from India and Vietnam.
With changes in packaging, it's become more cost effective to ship items in lighter containers such as foil packets and plastic containers, Adler said. U.S. consumers desire for summer produce in the winter always will drive demand for foods from other parts of the world despite the "locavore" trend leading some consumers to limit themselves to locally grown foods, she said.
Locally grown food is the freshest and healthiest for consumers mainly because U.S. regulations for food produced domestically are the best in the world, said Jaydee Hanson, a policy analyst at the non-profit Center for Food Safety in Washington. With a large percentage of garlic, apple juice and honey coming from Asia and many other products coming from other parts of the world, the FDA needs to step up oversight of the non-U.S. goods, he said.
"If we're going to have lower-cost food that's less safe, it's not a bargain," Hanson said.
Will Betts, executive coordinator in charge of perishables for Whole Foods in the Midwest region, declined to say whether his store is increasing its imports from China, noting by e-mail that the store is "a participant in the global marketplace." Still, the company routinely stresses its commitment to locally grown food and "support of local farmers."
Some of the food at Whole Foods that is definitely not locally produced includes boxed and bagged World Catch shrimp from Thailand, Flavor Tree banana chips and other dried fruits from Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines, and the store's private label "California Blend" of frozen bagged organic cauliflower, carrots and broccoli from China.
"We import food from Asia due to issues involving availability of supply, cost, quality and flavor," Betts said in the e-mail. "A Whole Foods Market core value is to satisfy and delight our customers and our products from Asia help to fulfill this core value."
Whole Foods' relationship with Asian producers of natural and organic foods spans six to 10 years with the company only buying from "credible vendors" whose food handling and safety procedures are audited by third-party inspectors, Betts said. For its private label food, the company has a team that monitors third-party inspection services in the country of origin and field service employees who inspect producers before the company tests the foods again when they arrive in the United States.
At Jewel-Osco, pine nuts in a bag offered by Diamond of California as well as those in a jar from Adessi hail from China while Superior brand dried pineapple as well as canned Jewel and Dole pineapple chunks come from Thailand. Foil pouches of Chicken of the Sea and Bumble Bee light tuna in water also make their way from Thailand.
Jewel parent company Supervalu Inc. declined to comment on whether the practice is a growing trend and what safeguards it has in place for inspecting the food other than to say in an e-mailed statement: "Jewel-Osco sources food according to policies and procedures set forth by the appropriate federal, state and local governing agencies."
At Treasure Island, shoppers will find Dole four-packs of fruit in a plastic cup with the mixed fruit variety imported from Thailand, the pears from China and the pineapple from the Philippines. If they read the labels, they'll also notice that canned sliced mushrooms by Polar and Countrys Delight are from China. The store didn't return calls seeking comment.
At Dominick's, in addition to the SeaPak brand coconut shrimp from China, the store also stocks a SeaPak tempura shrimp that is imported from Thailand. The store's Safeway Select unsalted roasted cashews were flown in from India, Vietnam and Tanzania and the Del Monte pineapple chunks in a "fresh fruit" cup arrived from Thailand.
A Del Monte spokeswoman, Brandy Bergman, dismissed questions about imports from Asia, saying she didn't think the company had "any kind of significant importing from Asia." A spokeswoman for SeaPak said company officials were unavailable for comment.
Seafood in particular has become a very common import mainly because Asian companies have become adept at farming shrimp and other fish, said Robert Garfield, a senior vice president at the American Frozen Food Institute, an industry association.
"They've become very, very good at it and they can do it more cheaply than we can," Garfield said.
Lynne Marek is a local free-lance writer.